Those of you who think documentaries can't affect anything in the real world, take note. Following the release of the sympathetic documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Polanski is asking for the molestation charges against him to be dropped. He's been in exile in France for 30 years, having fled the country to escape charges for allegedly drugging and seducing a 13-year-old girl.
Coming Soon has the details of the case made by Polanski's lawyers, who use the documentary as evidence that the 1978 trial was mishandled. ""The release of the documentary film, ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, and its aftermath, have revealed a pattern of misconduct and improper communications between the Superior Court and the District Attorney's Office, in violation of the rule of law and without the knowledge of the defendant or his counsel.This case serves as a classic example of how our justice system can be abused, and defendants' rights trampled, by an unholy alliance between courts and criminal prosecutors."
As distasteful as Polanski's alleged crime is, he seems to have more than served his time by being exiled for so long, and even the girl he allegedly raped has, as an adult, forgiven him. It'll be weird to live in a world where Roman Polanski walks freely among us in the United States-- provided this whole scheme works out. If it does, it'll be the end of one of the strangest stories in Hollywood history.
